The smell of Twilight's cooking filled the library, once again she was up early. Her cooking was getting worse, and worse, all the time. Just last week she had made burnt apple pie. Unfortunately, the little dragon was not as lucky as you might have thought at first. This burnt apple pie, was filled with ingredients such as ketchup, peanut butter, rice, pork (the worst yet), and other various odd food items.
Spike woke up to the sound of a large object hitting the library floor with a CRASH!!!
Looking up at the clock that hung over Twilight's bed, he saw that it was 8:30. Again.
Getting out of his bed, he spread his arms wide, and yawned. Beginning to walk down the stairs, he grumbled, "At least it's not pickles, boiled and then covered with whipped cream before getting deep---WHOA!!!"
As Spike reached the end of his journey down the stairs, he saw in the kitchen what looked like a cake. White frosting on all sides, the scent of peach in the air.
"Had Twilight finally made something that could be called food?" Spike wondered. Somewhere deep down inside of him he could hear a voice calling, "No! She'll never make good food, again! Not after that one comment you made, about her only ever serving haymeal, with raisins and brown sugar!"
Pushing that voice to the back of his head, Spike began, "Is that a..." By this time he was drooling on the floor.
Twilight looked back at him smiling proudly, "Why, yes, it is. Probably one of my finest creations in cooking, yet."
Suddenly Spike's alarms went blazing! The thought of it being not edible was now the center of his attention. She had called that pie one of her finest creations. And today, she had called that cake the same thing.
Taking a step back, Spike gulped, "Eh, he. So... Is it like any of your previous deserts?" "Come on, Spike. Just make it to the door. You can get out, she won't have locked the door yet. Just a little bit further. Come on." As Twilight talked, Spike kept taking cautious steps towards the door.
"Why, yes, actually, it is. It's made from fried cumquat, sprinkled with just the slightest bit of garlic, it has boiled tree sap in the center, while the whipped cream is made up of---"
"Well I'm gonna be off, now. Got a lot of gem hunting to do, so see you!" Spike was now next to the library's door. launching himself at it, he yanked at the handle, pulling the door open, he dashed out with all the speed of Rainbow Dash herself (well nowhere near that fast, but it makes the story sound better).
"WAIT!!!" Twilight yelled. Calling upon her magic, she teleported to right outside of the library in front of Spike.
Spike ran straight forward into Twilight. Pealing away from her, Spike fell to the ground, head going wild. Clutching his head, Spike looked up to see a huffing Twilight Sparkle, glaring down at him.
"Whoa. I uh.." Spike began.
"You... need to listen to me." Twilight gave a sigh of relief. "Now, then. I'm going to be going down to the Dragon Kingdom, for an exchange of books. I know you haven't even heard of the Dragon Kingdom yet, Celestia said not to tell you, until further notice, and I have recently received word, that it would be okay to tell you. Because you'll have to take care of the library while I'm gone. After all, it is a Wednesday. Ponies still come for a book late at night, when they have just finished the prequel. And when I get back you'll be able to see all those books about dragons, you won't even need to go there. Simple as that." Twilight finally finished.
"But," Spike began, "why wouldn't Celestia want me to go over there, to see what the dragons in the Dragon Kingdom are like? Is she actually just a cold heartless k---"
"No! No. No, Spike. It's not that Celestia wants you to not go to the Dragon Kingdom. It's the Dragons that don't want any outsiders coming in. They say that they don't want any polluting, from outside their kingdom. Except this one exchange of books, but that will be an exception. So it was just for the better that you didn't know."
Spike made a sad face, "Suddenly I'm not wanting to go so much." Spike declared.
Twilight laughed, "Oh, Spike. Just take care of the library for me, and I'll bring back some information on dragons." Twilight sighed. "Well, good bye, Spike." Twilight said, inhaling.
As Spike watched Twilight walk over to the train station he heard her call back, without turning around, "Also, you can do what you like with that cake, Spike. It's a present, from me, to you."
Spike chanced a question, "Does it by any chance have peaches in it?"
Twilight stopped, "No. Why do you ask?"
Spike made a confused face, "Then what's that smell of peaches, I've been smelling?"
Twilight giggled, "That's my new perfume, I've been trying. Rarity recommended it to me."
After Twilight boarded the train, Spike dashed inside the library. The cake falling in his line of sight, he stopped, and began to walk over to it.
"So," Spike began, to the cake, "just how should I begin to...take care of you?" Spike said.
Holding up four knives in his claws, Spike began to cackle. "Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
ONE WEEK LATER
The smell of books filled the library, that's how it had been for the past week. Since Twilight was off to the Dragon Kingdom, it had been pretty quiet. Occasionally a pony would come by, picking up or dropping off a few books. Nothing ever happened while Twilight was gone, but whenever she was there something would happen.
Spike awoke that morning to a knock at the door. Spike opened his eyes the slightest bit and yawned. Getting out of his bed he walked down to the door, grumbling, "Better not be the Cutie Mark Crusaders, trying to get their cutie marks in early rising."
As Spike opened the door, he could see a very energetic pink pony in front of him, giggling, "He, he, he, he, he! Oh, silly! If I tried to get my cutie mark in early rising by knocking on the door, of the library, to give you a party invitation, it wouldn't work! Nu, uh! Cause we already know that I'm good at parties, which is why I'm here to give you this party invitation. Also, how could I get my cutie mark, if I already had it? Would one disappear and then the other appear? HUH!!! Or would I get to cutie marks? Like that one time when Apple Bloom got the cutie pox, and I had to tell everyone that I ate six corncakes. Wow! Can you imagine, if I'd had to tell everyone that I actually ate all fifteen corncakes!? Mrs. Cake, would never let me near those corncakes again. Woe, would be to Pinkie Pie, destined to never again eat a corncake. Then she would say I could never eat any sweets again, and I would be Pinkied!"
"Pinkie Pie..." Spike glanced at the clock, it read 10:00. WHOA!!! How'd I let you talk so long?"
Pinkie Pie giggled, "He, he, he. Oh, Spike. Just take this," Pinkie Pie said lifting a envelope out of her hair. "Oh, I almost forgot!"
Spike was looking half sleepy and half annoyed. "What, is it, now---"
"The Pink Party, is coming to you,
If you are sad, or feeling blue.
Just come on down to Sugar Cube Corner,
We're hosting it there, rather than at---"
"WHOA!!! WHOA!! WHOA! Whoa! Whoa. You can't to that, Cindy Marrow,---and various other writers I don't care to mention---can do songs. Not you."
Pinkie Pie drooped lower to the ground, with a sad expression on her face, Pinkie asked, "You don't like my singing?"
Spike slapped a hand to his face, "No, Pinkie Pie. That's not what I meant."
Pinkie Pie began to walk off, turning her head back towards Spike, Pinkie asked "The party's there, if you wanna come."
"Pinkie Pie?" Spike yelled. "What party is it?"
Pinkie Pie looked back at him, already a smile in her face, "It's for Twilight! Because she's bringing back this superanific shipping container, from the Dragon Kingdom."
"Hold on a second," Spike said, "So, your a throwing super what's it party, for Twilight, after she goes all the way to the Dragon Kingdom, just to get some books?"
"Yeah!" Pinkie shouted. "It's gonna be so much fun!"
At that Pinkie Pie started to bounce away, happily.
Spike mumbled, aloud, "Whatever, I'll go."
Spike heard Pinkie Pie call in a sing-song voice, from behind him, "You're gonna need a present."
Spike chuckled, "It's not a Birthday Party, it's just a party. Twilight doesn't need anything, she's got all she needs in this library."
"Well," Pinkie began, pulling a scroll out from behind her, "the rules of the party are very clear. AHEM! Rule 196: All present to a party of extreme importance, must bring a party present."
"It isn't a party of extreme importance, just a small little get together---"
"A small little get together!?" Are you out of your little dragon mind!? This is no small get together! This is a party of extreme importance. Why, I'd be surprised if the whole of Equestria didn't come over, for this party."
Spike looked at her with a describable expression on his face, "Don't you think that's a mite much, Pinkie?"
"A mite much!? Are you out of your little---Oh, wait! I already said that. He, he, he, he. AHEM!!! All the same! Are you?"
Spike sighed, "I'm not the one with problems, Pinkie."
"Fine, have it your way," Pinkie said.
"I'll come..."
"Bearing gifts?" Pinkie asked, eying him.
Spike sighed, "Bearing gifts."
"Good! I'll see you at the party!" Pinkie Pie yelled pouncing off.
"By the way," Spike began, "When is the party?"
Pinkie Pie giggled, again. "In fifteen minutes, silly."
All of Equestria hit Spike at that moment, the weight making him fall to the floor. "BLAGRASHFIFNOWIUH!!!"
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"It's okay, Spike. You can do it. Wait. Am I over reacting!? Who cares, gotta get a present. Now, then, if you just pick some random adventure book off of the shelf of the library, you can give that to her, she'll never know. Now what was that one you were reading, a while back? Harry Pony and the Deathly Hallows? It'll work. No! She's read every book in this library, five times already! So what? She'll know! I'm not listening to you anymore. But she---" With that, Spike locked up his conscience (ish), ready to live the day.
Walking to the library shelf, he skimmed the walls, "H...H...H...H...Ahah! Harry Pony and The Sorcerer's Stone. Eh. Close enough." Pulling the book off of the shelf he tucked it under his arm, and walked to the storage room. There he found: wrapping paper. Taking the wrapping paper he began to wrap up the book. Soon he was done. He had wrapped it with a white and light-red wrapping paper, on top of that, there was a dark-red ribbon (he can really fix it, up). "Now, for the glitter." Spike said, spilling glitter over it. "Ta, da!" Spike chuckled, "Let's go party."
~~~
Sugar Cube Corner was bustling with ponies, wanting to find out what Twilight had brought back from the Dragon Kingdom, it was so full that there was a great line, Spike could see, to Sugar Cube Corner, as he approached. Placing himself at the back of the line, he leaned to his right, to see just how far the line stretched out to. It had to be at least one hundred yards! Not a fan of lines himself, Spike walked right on past the line calling, "Make way, for the assistant of Twilight Sparkle! The one! The only! The one who brings good fortunes back from the Dragon Kingdom!"
The ponies hastily made way for the one that might be able to be bribed into getting one of the books from the Dragon Kingdom for them. Spike chuckled to himself, "Hu-hu! Awesome!"
Reaching the end of the line, he pushed himself inside, it was a lot more cramped than when he had been there to help Pinkie Pie play a "prank" on Mr. and Mrs. Cake, involving the cash register. When he tried to shake his head, to rid himself of bad memories, he hit a pony to his left causing it to fall down, smashing into another pony, smashing into another pony, and so on, until a big commotion broke loose, where ponies were swinging their hooves left and right, black eyes were given, curses were sworn, wailing commenced, and a certain purple dragon, snuck into a corner. When he reached the back of the corner he bumped into something.
A screech came from behind him, "Aaaaaaahhh!!!"
Turning around he saw a wide-eyed panting tan colored Pegasus with a particularly familiar pink mane, sitting on the floor, staring at him frighteningly. Suddenly he saw it calm down, standing up, it spoke, in its sweet little voice, "Oh, hi, Spike! I didn't realize that it was you."
Spike looked at her curiously, "And just what are you doing, sitting in the corner of Sugar Cube Corner, away from all he munchies and thingies?"
"Oh, well uh," Fluttershy hid her face behind her mane. "You saw what just started, out there. I was trying to avoid that kind of commotion. Uh-hu!" Fluttershy put on her largest smile, and stood there.
Spike shuffled his claws, behind his back, and gave a sheepish smile, "He-he! Yeah, I wonder how that happened."
Fluttershy shook her head, "Probably one of those ponies rushed in here, and banged into somepony. I think that's what happened because lots of ponies just pushed their way past me. Lot's of them."
Spike shuffled his claws around even more hastily, "Yeah, bumped into somepony. A he-he."
Fluttershy nodded her head, "The pony that did it was probably just a fraud. A bully isn't really somepony tough, they just pretend to be, and bully their way around, a lot. Do you know who did it?"
Spike looked around for a bit, "Nope, no idea. Goodness! Do I hear Twilight calling? Well gotta go!"
With that Spike whizzed off, leaving Fluttershy to wonder, "Goodness, was it something I said?"
Spike found Twilight sitting at a table, with her reading glasses on, there were about five books on the table, and the only reason he could see the table through the bustle of ponies, was because he was standing on the back of Bon Bon, who had an enormous smile on her face. Leaping over the heads of the ponies, Spike soon landed on the top of the table, with his present.
Twilight gave a sudden gasp. Then she smiled, "Oh, hi, Spike. What's that package you're carrying?"
Spike frowned, "It's my present to you, for coming back with... five books?"
Twilight gave a short laugh, "When we got there for the exchange of books, I immediately found Celestia, she explained how the exchange was going to have about one thousand books, on each side, and she graciously offered for me to take a few of the books to the Ponyville library,---for the rest were going to Canterlot---that might interest you or me, so I accepted. See, I've got The History of The Dragon Magic, Children's Beloved Tales, Tips to Better Cooking, The Dragon Encyclopedia, and Dragon Pets."
At the first of these Spike just scratched his scales. At the second of these he shot Twilight a cold icy glare. The third brushed all of that off, and left him drooling. At the fourth he held a hand to ether side, and started moving them up and down, as if considering the option. The fifth however made him gave Twilight a quizzical look.
"By the way," Twilight began, what do you mean by present?" Twilight peered over the small stack of books, at the decorated box shaped object.
Spike gave her a surprised look, "What do you mean? Everyone has to give you a present, to be able to come."
Twilight had tried to keep from laughing, but she just couldn't. She burst out laughing for a good thirty seconds, before recovering. "Why would I get presents? All I'm doing is bringing back a few measly books, the party is fine, but presents? Spike what's been getting into your head?"
Spike went red with anger, he gritted through his teeth, "Pinkie Pie!"
"Pinkie Pie?" Twilight said amusedly. "Is that what's been going on?"
Spike threw the present down on the table, sweat trickling down his face, he scanned the room until he spotted Pinkie Pie, standing next to Rainbow Dash, chuckling. Stomping down off of the table, he marched over to them, huffing. When Spike reached them he yelled at Pinkie Pie, "Why did you tell me I needed to bring a gift for Twilight, when clearly I didn't!?"
Pinkie Pie giggled, "Oh, Spike, how else was I supposed to pull a prank on you? I wasn't just gonna hide myself inside a cupboard until you came along and I could dump sneezing powder on you, I mean, Dah! Booooooooooooring!!! That would be the worst prank ever, next to baking somep---"
"How about not pulling one!? EH, PINKIE!?" Spike hollered at the top of his lungs.
"Well that would be even less funerific!" Pinkie Pie said flaying her arms. "After all, doing nothing is just booooooooooooring!"
"Better nothing than make a dragon give something away, that he shouldn't even---" Spike stuffed a claw down his throat, luckily not too much damage had been done.
"You're right, Spike, You shouldn't even have to give that to Twilight, buuuuuuuut, unfortunately you have to, now." Pinkie declared.
Spike's jaw fell to the floor, suddenly, he remember that he had left the present with Twilight. His conscience was getting to him. Jumping onto Pinkie's back, he jumped onto her cotton candy hair, looking over the sea of ponies he could see Twilight removing the ribbon. All but two of Spike's alarms went off, the two that didn't were: "Food alert," and "Bathroom."
Jumping off of Pinkie Pie's hair he began to rush through the ponies, bumping all that came within range.
Rainbow Dash looked at Pinkie, and chuckled, "This won't end well."
Pinkie Pie smiled, "Good thing a brought popcorn and shades, then!" Pinkie Pie said placing a pair of shades on her face while pulling out a bag of popcorn.
Rainbow dash pulled out her own shades and joined in, "Good popcorn, this. What's this flavor?"
"Maybe I'll tell you, on some evil day." Pinkie Pie said chuckling, and rubbing her hooves together.
As Spike reached the table he saw Twilight unwrapping the last pit of wrapping paper from the front. Leaping up high, Spike managed to catch the book, clinging to it so as she could not see what it was. "No," he said. "You can't see this!"
"Why not?" Twilight questioned. "It is my present, after all."
"No," Spike yelled, "it's mine! I was gonna give it to you, but I changed my mind."
"I already unwrapped it, Spike, it's too late now," Twilight shook her head.
Spike heard his conscience calling, "Give it up! It's too late now, I tried to warn you, but oh no, you wouldn't listen! Just give it up, it's not like she isn't going to find out later!" Spike thought for a bit, before releasing his hold on the book. "Here," Spike said, "if you really want it, it's yours."
Twilight smiled, taking the book from his possession she looked at the cover and gasped. Frowning she set the book down on the table and glared at Spike, "Spike, I know every book in the library, every book. It just so happens that this book belongs to the Ponyville library that we live in, just because we live there doesn't make the library ours, this book belongs to the Ponyville library, it was very wrong of you to give it to me, when it wasn't yours to give."
Spike watched the stern look on her face stay put, as she tapped the book. "You said it was wrong of me, I knew that. That's why I was trying to keep you from getting the book, so it could be returned."
"It was wrong of you to go through with your idea in the first place," Twilight began, "you should have known better. I did trust you once upon a time, ya know? No, Spike, you're not getting off that easily."
"My conscience!" Spike stated.
"What about it?" Twilight asked with a queer look on her face.
"It was locked up tight for a while," Spike said brightly, "and only just came out now."
"No, Spike," Twilight shook her head, "you only wanted to stop me when Pinkie explained it was a prank, and that you didn't need it to come. You wanted to come. You should have known in the first place what you were doing was wrong. Your conscience was just ignored."
"You say you know every book in the library? Which ones are there?" Spike asked with a fake tone of interest in his voice.
"Why thank you, for asking! I've always wanted to tell, but nopony knows the finer arts. Ahem!" Twilight began, "Alpony Einstein's discovery of the old school. I hope you don't mind that I won't go in alphabetical order."
"Of course not," Spike smiled, taking a step back.
"Ahem!" Twilight began again, "The Discovery of the Lightning Rod, One Too Many, A Place in a Thousand, Mother Nature, Down to One, Give up, Give Me Land, Under Texas Stars, The Black Night Rises, The Life of Harry Pony, Sherclop Pones Key to Success, The Undying Land, A Nevada Reference, Don't Blink, The Angels Take Manehatten, Another Day, The Life of a Ranger, Be Yourself..." At this point in time Twilight Opened her eyes from her concentration but didn't see Spike in front of her, looking around a bit she spotted him by the door. Noticing that he had been found out Spike dashed out the door. Leaping up onto the table she yelled after him, "None of my cooking for a week, young man!"
Spike halted making a cloud of dust. "None of her cooking for a week!? Seriously!? This had to be heaven. He could live happily for another week! Spike gave a shout of joy, "Wo-ho! Now then," Spike began to himself, "What dragon delicacy shall I have first?"